BRAUNWORTH & CO

["BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERa", "BROOKLYN. N. Y.", "The incidents, the stores, the organizations and the individuals described in this book are real, not fictitious. At the time that this book goes to press, each one of the societies mentioned is actively engaged in the task of reducing the cost of living for its mem- bers. The National Housewives' League has its headquarters at 25 West Forty-fifth Street, New York City. Mrs. Julian Heath, a real flesh and blood woman, is president of the organization. The House- wives' Cooperative League is still working actively toward cooperative buying and no doubt for several years to come can be reached through its efficient sec- retary. Miss Edna 0. Crofton, Norwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, from which city the organiza- tion directs its work.", "The Cooperative Store at Montclair is a flourish- ing reality. The Experimental Farm at Medford, Long Island, is still encouraging local farmers to seir direct to the housewives of Greater New York and vicinity by parcel post and express. Even Mrs. Larry and her friend, Claire Pierce, exist under other names, and they participated in the adventures herein described.", "This explanation is given because when the chap- ters appeared originally in the Woman's Home Com- panion, the author received many letters containing queries of this nature: \"Is there such an organiza- tion as the National Housewives' League, the House- wives' Cooperative League, a Cooperative Store in Montclair?\" \"Is there such a farm as you describe under the title of the Experimental Farm at Med- ford? If so, I want to get in touch with its super- intendent/'", "The material in this book, which is of profound interest to all home-makers present or prospective, is presented in fiction form because the writer, being a housekeeper, realizes that household routine is so much a business of facts and figures that studies in thrift are more acceptable to busy women when brightened by the little touch of romance that goes so far in leavening the day's work of the home- maker.", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "CHAPTER I", "^'Luxury is attained through thrift/^", "— H. C. OF L. PROVERB NO. !•", "MRS. LARRY folded her veil with nice exactitude and speared it with two in- visible hairpins. Then she bent her hat one- fourth of an inch on the right side, fluffed up her hair on the left and tucked her gloves un- der her purse. These pre-luncheon rites com- pleted, she reached for the program of music. But, glancing casually at Claire Pierce on the other side of the table, she dropped the square of cardboard, with its Pierrot silhouettes, and studied the girl curiously.", "When one has picked up a remnant of chif- fon taffeta in a most desirable shade, at two- thirds the price asked at the regular counter, and has ordered a tidy luncheon of chicken-", "2 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "salad sandwiches and chocolate with whipped cream, in the popular restaurant of KimbelFs very popular department store, one has cause to look cheerful. And Claire's expression was anything but cheerful. She had removed neither veil nor gloves, but, with her hands folded in her lap, she sat staring through the window which overlooked one of New York's busiest corners.", "**My dear, what has happened?\"", "Claire transferred her gaze from the roof- tops to the pattern in the tablecloth which she outlined mechanically with a finger-tip.", "\"I — I've — ^broken with Jimmy, and — and — ^he went back to Kansas City last night.\"", "\"Oh, you poor lamb ! Whatever went wrong between you two? Why, you were just made for each other.\"", "\"That's what Jimmy said,\" murmured the girl in a choking voice.", "The great restaurant, with its chattering shoppers, faded away. They two seemed quite alone. Mrs. Larry reached out a warm impul- sive hand and gripped Claire's fingers, cold even through her heavy gloveg.", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 3", "''Why didn't you tell me before?\"", "''Telling doesn't help.\"", "\"Oh, yes, it does, my dear. Do you suppose that if I had known, I would have dragged you from one sale to another, boring you with such unimportant details as trimmings and findings? No, indeedy! We'd have gone home to my apartment and talked about Jimmy, and cud- dled the baby.\"", "Claire covered her eyes quickly with a shak- ing hand.", "\"Oh, I couldn't have stood that. This has been much better. It's helped me to forget for a little while.\"", "Mrs. Larry shook her head.", "\"Oh, no, it hasn't. You're not the kind to for- get. You're too sweet and womanly and loyal, and you're going to tell me what happened,— i why you sent Jimmy away.\"", "\"Because I love him too well to marry him/'", "Mrs. Larry's pretty oval face clouded. She was essentially a normal, single-minded wom- an. To her way of thinking, if you loved a man, you married him and made him happy. You did not send him off to another city to live", "4 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "among strangers, quite probably in some fussy, musty boarding-house. Subtleties of this sort positively annoyed her. They seemed so un- necessary, so futile. However, she cloaked her real feelings and threw an extra sympathetic note into her next speech.", "\"Well, tell me the worst! Fm bromidic, I know, but perhaps I can help. Marriage does help one to understand the male creature !\"", "Nobody could withstand Mrs. Larry in this mood. Mrs. Larry was not her real name. She was Mrs. Lawrence Hall, born Gregory, chris- tened Elizabeth Ellen, but from the day of her marriage she had been nick-named \"Mrs. Lar- ry\" by all those fortunate enough to count themselves as friends or acquaintances. And she loved the name. She said it made her feel so completely married to Larry. For be it known that Mr. Larry was the planet round which Mrs. Lai^ry, Larry Junior, Baby Lisbeth, and even Lena, the maid of all work in the house of Hall, revolved as subsidiary stars. Un- happy wives, bewildered husbands, uncertain bachelors and all too certain young women con- fided their love-affairs to Mrs. Larry and left", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 5", "her presence cheered, if not actually helped in the solution of their particular problems.", "So she was quite sure that Claire would open her heart when the proper moment arrived. It came when the white-uniformed waitress, hav- ing served the sandwiches and the chocolate, hurried away to collect payment on a luncheon check. The words were not gracious, but the tone in which they were uttered would have moved a heart of stone. They fairly set Mrs. Larry's quivering.", "*'Well, if you must know, it was this — and this — and this — — \" wailed Claire, as she poked the tip of her spoon into the top of her sand- wich, the whipped cream on her chocolate and the powdered sugar heaped in the silver bowl.", "*'The high cost of living — ^money, dirty, sor- did, hideously essential money. We can't live on Jimmy's income, and he's too proud to let father give me even my ridiculous little allow- ance after we are married. He says he'll sup- port his own wife and his own house, or he doesn't want either. And, do you know, he doesn't draw any more money out of the firm each month than my father pays for the up-", "6 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "keep of our limousine? Can you picture me trying to stretch forty dollars a week to pro- vide everything — everything — for Jimmy and mer", "\"You could learn, dear,\" suggested Mrs. Lar- ry, with a secret thrill at the thought of her own housewifely abilities.", "^'That's what Jimmy said, but when we fig- ured it all out, from house rent to cravats for Jimmy, crediting me incidentally with being the experienced housewife I am not^ there wasn't five cents left for insurance, the savings fund or the simplest recreation, let alone lux- uries. In his profession, Jimmy 'd just have to keep up appearances on the outside, if we had to live on oatmeal gruel and dried apples in the privacy of our apartment. I tried to persuade Jimmy to let father loan him a few thousand, just for the good of his career. He accused me of trying to weaken his character. He said I could learn how to manage, if I really loved him. And I told him if he waited until I knew how to manage a house on forty dollars a week, he'd forget how to love me.\"", "Claire made a fine pretense of choking over", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 7", "her hot chocolate. Anything was better than allowing even so sympathetic a person as Mrs. Larry to see that she was shedding tears over a certain party now speeding in the direction of Kansas City. Mrs. Larry drew her smooth brows together in a frown.", "''But, Claire, dear, there are women who keep nice little homes on twenty dollars a week.\"", "'Their husbands are not ambitious and com- ing lawyers. No, dear woman, I recognize my own limitations, and I love Jimmy too well to interfere with his future — to — to wreck his dear life. But it does seem as if mother might have realized that one of us girls might fall in love with some one besides a rich man. She might have taught me something about the value of money and the management of a house.\"", "Mrs. Larry, reaching for her purse, pictured the easy-going, money-spending life of the Pierce household, with its inherited and well invested money and its irresponsible wife and mother. But she said in her cheeriest voice:", "''Well, my dear Claire, there is always a way out of such a situation, when there's nothing more serious at stake than the high cost of liv-", "8 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "ing. And nothing in the world would shake the loyalty of a man like Jimmy Graves. You see — in his verj' next letter \"", "''But there won't be any next letter — - — \" Claire extended a ringless hand.", "Mrs. Larrj' gasped.", "\"Claire Pierce, you didn't!\"", "*'Yes, and what's more — he — he took it. Of course, I expected him to insist upon my keep- ing it\"", "Mrs. Larr>' was so amazed, so shocked that she almost forgot to leave a tip on the tray for the waitress. She even rose without adjusting her veil.", "\"Let's go down to the concert hall,\" she mur- mured. \"They usually have an organ recital in the afternoon. I can always think better to music.\"", "They threaded their way between the tables and under the broad archway to the foyer con- necting the elevators and the smaller dining- room used for afternoon tea. Here they were approached by a well-mannered salesgirl, car- r\\^ng small announcements, which she offered with an ingratiating smile.", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 9", "''Wouldn't you like to stop for the lecture this afternoon? It vdll Vjegin in ten minutes.\"", "Claire and Mr.s. Larrj' accepted the printed announcen'.ents rnechanically, their gaze fixed on the tea room, which v/as already half full. On the platform, Vjustling employees of the store were arranging what looked like an ex- hibit, bolts of cloth and silk, ready-made gar- ments, shoes, gloves, linens, perfumes. The saleswoman followed their curious glance.", "'Those are the heads of departments and the buyers. They are going to answer questions after the lecture.\"", "*'T\\'hat's the subject of the lecture?\" inquired Mrs. Larrj\\", "The salesgirl actually chuckled and pointed to the card in Mrs. Larrj^'s hand —", "'' '\\Miat Do You Do With Father's Money?' \"", "Other women had gathered round, sensing the unusual.", "\"It is a funny title, isn't it?\" exclaimed the girl, quite thriUed by her small but interested audience. **A lady from one of the magazines is holding a conference here all this week for housekeepers and mothers.\"", "10 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "\"Yes/' interrupted Mrs. Larry, \"but what does she mean by such a title, 'What Do You Do With Father's Money?' \"", "\"Oh,\" answered the girl brightly, \"she's go- ing to tell you, first, how women who don't know how to shop, waste the money their men folks earn; and then the different buyers are going to tell you how to know the difference between good goods and bad.\"", "An elevator discharged fifteen or eighteen women, who, with note-books in hand, hurried toward the lecture room. Some of them nodded to the salesgirl as they passed.", "\"Lots of the ladies have been here every afternoon, but I think this is going to be the biggest meeting of all. That title's made a hit: 'What Do You Do With Father's Money?' \"", "Mrs. Larry gripped Claire's arm feverishly and fairly dragged her toward the lecture room.", "\"My dear, I told you there'd be a way out. Talk about providence, — to think of our stumbling, first thing, on a lecture about get- ting your money's worth. You ought to take this as an omen!\"", "They found seats near the platform and", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 11", "watched with interest the operations of the buyers arranging their exhibits and the move- ments of the competent-looking woman with a short maternal figure, snapping bright eyes and a friendly way of addressing the women in the audience who plainly regarded her as their leader. Claire, still benumbed by the de- parture of Jimmy Graves, sat gazing in preoc- cupied fashion at figures which were just so many manikins. Gregarious Mrs. Larry turned to the woman on her left.", "\"Have you been to the other meetings?\"", "\"Indeed, yes, and you wouldn't believe how much I have learned.\"", "\"About what?\" asked Mrs. Larry.", "\"Oh, about taking care of yourself before the baby comes, feeding babies, diet for older chil- dren, discipline, and lots of things that puzzle young mothers like me. It's funny, isn't it, how we girls marry without knowing a single thing about handling children, when they are the .big- gest thing in our lives after marriage.\"", "\"Except our husbands,\" was Mrs. Larry's mental reservation. \"Yes,\" she said aloud. \"I had lots of trouble with my first baby. I man-", "12 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "aged better with the second. But who bears the expenses of this conference? We didn't pay- any admission r*", "\"Oh, it's done by the Kimbells. My husband says it's a very clever way to bring women into the store. And you just want to buy every- thing the doctors and the lecturers tell you about/'", "The brisk-looking leader had mounted the platform. An expectant hush fell upon the audience.", "''Yesterday afternoon, when I announced the subject of to-day's lecture, 'What Do You Do With Father's Money?* a good many of you laughed. Some of you shook your heads, be- cause you know how hard it is to make father's money go around. And one reason why it is so hard to stretch the family income is this : You don't know what you are getting for the money you spend, — ^how much nourishment it contains, if it is for food ; how long it will wear, if it is clothing. You take a chance. You guess. But you don't know. And because you don't know, quite a little of father's money goes to waste.", "\"Now, this isn't your fault. It is because", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 13", "economic and domestic conditions have changed or progressed, but the training of women has not changed nor progressed in the same way. We are still trying to economize by concocting dishes out of left-overs in the refrigerator, and turning and dyeing clothes, when it is far more important that we should know the true value of food and fabrics when we buy them.", "\"A few generations back, your ancestors and mine, both husbands and wives, raised together in the field, the pasture and the garden, most of the foodstuffs required for the family. And in the great kitchen were woven most of the fabrics required for clothing the family. . What could not be raised on the land or made in the home was traded for at the country store. Quite generally, these negotiations were conducted by the men of the family. The women knew how much sugar would be brought home for each dozen of eggs, how many pounds of butter they must send to the store for a pair of shoes.", "''Then f-arms were cut up into towns, towns were swallowed by cities and the family loom disappeared before the advancing factory. The daughter of the woman who had dried apples.", "14 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "cherries and corn on the tin roof of her lean- to kitchen served at her table the product of canneries. And everybody whose ancestors had traded butter and eggs and cheese and smoke-house ham for drygoods had money to spend instead. Some of them had a great deal of money — more than was good for them. The country passed through a period of prosperity and suddenly acquired wealth, but nobody thought to teach this new generation of women the value of money or how to spend it to best advantage. No one even realized that while ex- travagant habits were gripping American wo- men, nobody warned them concerning the lean days that would come with financial panic, and nobody observed the quiet but steady increase in the cost of living.", "\"Then the deluge! Greedy corporations cornered food supplies. The high cost of living became a bitter reality. And behold, press and public bewailing the extravagance of the Amer- ican woman and comparing her unfavorably with her housewifely sisters across the sea!", "\"This is unjust. Give the American woman lessons in thrift along the modern lines of in-", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 15", "come and expenditure, and she will work out her splendid salvation. Throw light on food values, on fabrics and their adulteration. Teach the woman how to buy as well as how to utilize what she buys, and she will be able to solve, in her own way, the much discussed problem of the high cost of living. She will know what to do with father's money.", "\"It is not possible in one short afternoon to discuss food values and modern methods of marketing, but when you have heard what these ladies and gentlemen have to say,\" indicating the buyers in charge of their respective ex- hibits, \"you will realize what you can save by knowing more about what you buy. I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Jones, the linen buyer.'*", "Mr. Jones, an elderly man, took his place be- side a table piled high with towels, table and bed linen.", "\"As each one of us is limited to a few min- utes,\" he explained, while the more experienced women in the audience opened their note-books, \"I will take up just one point in the buying of linens, the difference between real linen and", "16 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "mercerized cotton. It is on this one point that shoppers are most often deceived and cheated. Do not misunderstand me. Mercerized cotton is worth the price an honest firm asks for mer- cerized cotton. But it is not worth the price asked for linen. When you buy mercerized cot- ton at the price for which you should receive honest linen, then you are wasting fifty per cent, of father's money; throwing away fifty cents out of every dollar, twenty-five cents out of every fifty.", "\"Mercerized cotton wears just as long as linen, but it does not wear in the same way. Properly laundered, it shines quite as highly as good linen damask, but there is this difference — the first time mercerized cotton is laundered it begins to shed a fine fuzz or lint which settles on your clothing. No doubt you have noticed this, when you have dined at a restaurant and discovered lint from the tablecloth or napkin on your tailored suit. Most of the linen used in restaurants is not linen at all — it is mercer- ized cotton. The lint which sticks to your clothes is the same lint that rises like a haze in a cotton mill. But when I visit a big linen", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 17", "mill in Ireland, Belgium, Flanders or Germany, there is no lint in the air. Flax, from which real linen is made, does not give forth lint.", "\"Buy mercerized cotton for your dining-room table or your bedding, if you want, but pay just what it is worth and no more. To be quite ex- plicit, as mercerized cotton fabrics are worth just half what pure linen is worth, if you pay for mercerized cotton the price asked for pure linen, you are wasting father's money,", "\"I have here two bolts of table Uinen' in ex- actly the same chrysanthemum design. One of these is real linen, value one dollar and fifty cents per yard ; the other is mercerized cotton, value seventy-five cents per yard. I am quite sure that when these two bolts are passed around, you will not be able to tell the linen from the mercerized cotton. My own salesmen can not tell them apart without applying some sort of a test. Down in our basement you can buy the mercerized cotton at seventy-five cents a yard. If you will launder it carefully, rinsing it finally in very thin starch water, iron it very dry with heavy irons, you can get exactly the same gloss possible for linen damask, and you", "18 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "will get its full value of seventy-five cents a yard.", "\"The real linen sells at one dollar and fifty cents per yard, in our linen department on the second floor. If you want to spend a dollar and a half a yard for table linen, just make sure that you are getting linen and not mercerized cotton, that you are getting a dollar in fabric value for every dollar of father's money.\"", "Several clerks started to carry the bolts of linen through the audience. Instantly an eager woman was on her feet.", "\"But how are we to know the difference be- tween mercerized cotton and linen, if your own clerks do not recognize it?\" she demanded.", "\"By asking the clerk to test what you are buying, in front of your eyes. Have the ma- terial moistened on the right side. If the moisture shows almost immediately on the wrong side you may be reasonably sure that it is linen damask. If, however, the moisture does not show quickly on the wrong side, you may be pretty sure that it is cotton so highly mercerized or finished that the polish or finish withstands moisture. Or you can have it rub-", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 19", "bed with a damp cloth. Linen will remain smooth; mercerized cotton will roughen.", "\"Moreover, as soon as the salesman finds out that you know how to buy linen, he will tell you the truth rather than be caught in an at- tempt to deceive you. Don't say to a salesman, as some of our customers do, *I don't know anything about linens, except the kind of pat- tern I like, so I'll have to depend on you about quality.' Don't confess ignorance and invite deception when you can so easily possess knowledge.\"", "When the linen had been passed from one part of the audience to another, and the excite- ment had subsided, the buyer of cotton dress goods took the floor to explain the difference in price and values between imported and domes- tic goods. Like the linen buyer, he contended that the cheaper goods of domestic manufac- ture wear quite as well and hold their colors quite as long as their imported cousins, the dif- ference being largely in sheemess and in de- sign. There could be no doubt, he admitted, that foreign cotton goods, like mulls, organdies, lawns, veilings, etc., are more finely woven", "20 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "from more distinctive designs than those made in American mills. But from economic reasons and not from patriotism, he urged the woman of limited means to buy summer fabrics of American manufacture.", "\"In preferring foreign fabrics,\" he added, \"you are only indulging a taste for luxury, satisfying your desire to have fabrics of more exclusive color and design than your neighbor. You won't get one more day's wear for spend- ing thirty per cent., even fifty per cent, more, of father's money,\"", "On the other hand, the buyer of woolens ad- vised shoppers, especially those who sought ma- terial for tailored suits, separate skirts and one-piece serge dresses for hard wear, to give the preference to foreign weaves, as these would withstand all bad weather conditions.", "The buyer for flannels next took the floor, and many women were surprised to learn that the all-wool flannel for petticoats and binders for the layette, the all-wool shirts and stock- ings for the new baby, represented a waste of father's money. Wool and cotton mixed or wool and silk will shrink less, wear longer and", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 21", "give more comfort to the wearer than the cov- eted all-wool.", "''Only don't pay for fine cotton and wool what you would pay for all-wool or silk and wool,\" exclaimed the buyer, as she carried samples of the different weaves from aisle to aisle.", "The shoe buyer discussed the wearing qual- ities of different leathers and explained how cheap shoes that did not fit are more expensive in the end than higher priced shoes properly fitted. Also how the foot changes at different ages and how the health and working capacity of human beings are affected by so simple a factor as the shoes they wear. But most inter- esting of all, to the average woman, was the illuminating talk given by the buyer of suits, coats and blouses.", "\"You women who buy ready-made clothes think that when you have undone the parcel, paid the balance due on it, and shaken out the garment, it is quite ready for you to wear. You have bought it ready-made to escape visits to the dressmaker or the annoyance of a seam- stress in the house, or any tax on your own", "22 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "limited abilities as a sewer. All you have to do now is to wear the dress. What is more, you figure that it is much cheaper to buy a taffeta house dress for sixteen dollars and seventy-five cents than to have one made at the dress- maker's or in the home at twenty dollars or twenty-five dollars. On the surface, you are right. You do pay out less money, but I will tell you a little secret. If you don't go over a ready-made garment, even at sixteen dollars and seventy-five cents, you have wasted several dollars of father's money, and I will explain why.", "*ln order to turn out clothing in quantities large enough to yield a profit and at prices low enough to have popular appeal, a manufac- turer must depend upon certain employees to inspect the output of the factory. These wo- men and girls work rapidly and sometimes miss defects. For a few inches, one side of a seam may slip from under the machine; a tired girl may catch a button or hook with a single thread when she should use three or four; a bit of lace may not be fastened tight. Now, if on re- ceipt of this garment you take time to go over", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 23", "it carefully, you can lengthen its life one-third. If a seam is not deep enough at a point where there is considerable strain, rip it for a few inches and take a deeper seam by hand. If you see that a piece of lace is almost loose, re-sew it before it begins to fray, or you will have to set in a new piece of lace at your own expense. It pays to fasten on buttons, bows, ornaments and buckles. You can't expect the workers in a great factory to take the same individual pains that your dressmaker or seamstress would take. It costs money to renew trifles like these which drop from a ready-made garment. Sometimes you can not match them at all and your dress is spoiled.", "^Tve known women who, in their haste to wear a pretty new blouse, neglected so simple a thing as sewing in shields. If your dress- maker or the home seamstress had spent enough time to make a satisfactory gown, you may rest assured she would not forget the shields. A self -toned braid, at ten or fifteen cents, v^ill lengthen the life of a ready-made skirt. Fashionable tailors never send out a high-priced suit without suggesting braid for", "24 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "the skirt. For ten cents and a little time, you can add this exclusive and economical touch to your ready-made skirt/'", "Long before the different buyers had finished their talks, Claire Pierce was roused from her lethargy of near-despair. She was beginning to understand, to a small degree, why her effi- cient, optimistic lover had been so sure that she would master the intricacies of household ex- penditure. All around her were women who knew how to be happy on small incomes or who were there to find the road to such content- ment. She felt sudden contempt for the care- less way in which she and her sisters had always ordered their gowns, without even demanding itemized bills for the father who paid them so cheerfully.", "As for Mrs. Larry, she had leaned forward in the receptive attitude of a child watching its first Punch and Judy show. And now that the buyers were retiring behind their exhibits, the conference leader once more mounted the plat- form.", "\"I know we have all learned a great deal this afternoon about better values for father's", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 25", "money, and I hope that each one of us will use this knowledge in our homes, not only to save father's money, but to bring to ourselves greater contentment with our lot, and, in the end, little luxuries which we must now deny ourselves. For in efficiency there is content- ment, and through true economy do we attain luxuries. I believe in what is commonly called luxuries. I believe in the right of every refined, intelligent v^fe to enjoy these luxuries.", "\"I wonder how many of you women are weary of petty economies, of making over clothes, of trying to stretch a chicken to cover the meat course for three meals?\"", "A wave of laughter passed over the room, but it was not free from hysteria. The speaker continued.", "\"I know just how you feel. You turn and you twist, you warm up and you conjure new dishes out of next to nothing, and, still, at the end of the year, you realize how little money has gone into the savings bank, or how much is still due on the mortgage. You wonder if you will ever be able to buy a complete new dress ; whether you can ever spare enough money for", "26 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "Nellie to go to dancing school, or for you and your husband to hear a good concert. I hope these talks will help you to solve just such problems. Td like to think of each one of you having just one thing that you have always denied yourself, and to have it by learning how to get the most for father's money.\"", "On the applause which followed, Claire Pierce rose, new vitality straightening the fig- ure that had drooped at the luncheon table. It v/as Mrs. Larry who sat quite still, looking beyond the platform with its group of buyers, its exhibit of purple and fine linen, and the cheery conference leader, far, far up-town in- to a certain apartment where reposed certain manila envelopes known to herself and Mr. Larry as 'The Budget.\"", "As Claire Pierce touched her elbow, she drew a deep sigh and rose.", "\"Oh, dear,'' said Claire, \"if only I'd heard this talk before I said what I did to Jimmy!\"", "Mrs. Larry came to with a start.", "\"Jimmy? Oh, yes, Jimmy! Forgive me. Pd forgotten him. You see, I was thinking of my Larry.\"", "CHAPTER II", "''There is nothing in high finance more ex* ioitingly uncertain than just trying to get your pioney's worth r — H. C. OF L. proverb no. 2.", "MRS. LARRY sat at the old mahogany secretary which had been Great-aunt Abigail's wedding gift, her elbows planted in a litter of papers covered with figures and her despairing gaze fixed on a row of small manila envelopes.", "It was the second day after the lecture at the Kimbell store on \"What Do You Do With Father's Money?\" Mrs. Larry had attacked her account book and budget envelopes in a fine spirit of enthusiasm. With an intelligent knowledge of true fabric values, she would be able now to transfer from the two envelopes marked \"Operating Expenses\" and \"Clothing,\" to the one marked \"Luxuries,\" at least ten dol- krs a month.", "28 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "But* alas, she found that the fund for lux- uries amounted to exactly one dollar and thirteen cents, while there existed no imme- diate need for renewing linen or clothing at the promised reduction. On the other hand, a month's rent was due, and a dentist's bill had arrived that very morning. Both expenses were imperative and non-reducible. She shook out the dimes, nickels and pennies from the envelope marked ^'Luxuries\" and arranged them in a geometrical design.", "\"It can't be done !\" she groaned, and shook a rebellious fist at the smug-looking envelopes. Then suddenly she swung round in her chair, startled by an unexpected yet strangely famil- iar sound.", "She glanced sharply at the clock. Its tick was strictly businesslike and the hands point- ed to twenty minutes past two. Yet surely that had been the click of Larry's key in the front door, and now Larry's never-to-be-mis- taken step coming down the hall.", "Only an emergency, very bad news or very good, would bring Larry home in the middle of a crisp autumn afternoon.", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 29", "Now he was in the doorway, looking quite commonplace and natural, except for a sharp frown above the eyes which usually smiled at sight of her.", "*'Hello, little woman,\" he said, drawing her close with that little air of proprietorship which never failed to thrill her, \"I'm leaving for South Bethlehem at five — ^back Thursday — wonder if you could pack my bag while I take a nap? Head aches.\"", "He was out of his coat and shoes with the last word.", "*Tut in a soft shirt,\" he added as he sank on the couch an.d reached for the rug.", "\"Has anything happened?\" asked Mrs. Larry, adjusting the rug to his feet in the way he liked best.", "\"I should say so,\" he answered drowsily. \"Directors couldn't declare any dividend this quarter. Had all of us on the carpet this morn- ing. Seems up to me and Duggan to reduce expenses. Fve got to cut about ten thousand dollars in my department this year. Call me at three-thirty, will you, dear?\"", "And he was off I", "3Q ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "Mrs, Larry stood like a statue, staring down an this wonderful creature who, confronted by the task of reducing expenses by ten thousand a year, could fall off asleep in a few seconds.", "That's what came of being a man, she de- cided— a man, privileged to deal in big figures, hundreds, thousands, instead of dollars, quar- ters and dimes! Her glance traveled back to the hated sheets of papers and the accusing envelopes, labeled: \"Rent,\" \"Operating Ex- penses,\" \"Food,\" \"Clothing,\" \"Savings,\" \"Care and Education,\" \"Luxuries.\"", "Something very like hysterical laughter rose in her throat. Larry could sleep with a weight of ten thousand on his mind, and she would lie awake nights figuring how to save ten dol- lars a month. She looked down at her hus- band.", "How strong and capable, even in his sleep, this man who worked day after day, year in and year out, for her and the babies, who turned over to her all that he earned. The beauty of his unquestioning trust brought a different sort of choke to her throat. Of", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 31", "course, she would find a way to save that extra ten each month — for Larry's use or pleasure.", "Then she tiptoed out of the living-room, closing the door behind her, lest the children, coming in from their walk, should fall upon their father like the Philistines they were. But as she packed his bag and laid out his clean linen, her mind turned over and over the troublesome question, and the lines reappeared in her broad white forehead.", "She was tabulating the luxuries which they denied themselves. First, there was Larry's love for music. From the day of their engage- ment they had subscribed annually to a cer- tain series of orchestral concerts. When it had come time this year to renew the subscrip- tion, she had had to tell Larry that the family budget would not admit of the expenditure. Larry, Junior's, measles, her dentist's bill, and the filling out of their dinner set from open stock, had overdrawn the envelopes marked \"Care and Education\" and \"Operating Ex- penses,\" leaving a vacuum in the one labeled \"Luxuries,\"", "32 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "She did not care so much for herself — twice during the last season she had been too tired really to appreciate the symphonies, but Larry rested and recuperated through music. He had pretended not to care, and had suggested that they might buy an occasional ticket for the very best concerts ; but she knew that giving up the subscription tickets had marked the biggest sacrifice of Larry's married life.", "Then for herself there was the day when Belle Saunders had told her that, being in mourning, she would sell her blue fox set for fifteen dollars. And Mrs. Larry, looking into the envelope marked ^'Clothing\" had realized that one must go without furs — as well as sub- scription tickets, but a fox set at fifteen dollars was an opportunity.", "It was utterly absurd, she agreed with the lecturer, that a husband and wife with two babies could not enjoy an occasional luxury of this sort on an income of two hundred dollars a month. It was unthinkable that on this in- come she might not take advantage of an op- portunity like Belle Saunders* fox set. She was tired of skimping and saving, tired of self -de-", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 33", "nial in this city of New York, where at every turn was the temptation to buy that which would beautify one's home or brighten one's life. And then suddenly a sharp pain shot through her heart.", "If she were dissatisfied with what they were getting out of life, how must Larry feel? If she irked at spending everything on stern necessities, how must he, who earned it all, rebel?", "There was no doubt about it ! She must re- form her management of their income. A new envelope marked \"Larry\" must be started and filled — ^ten dollars a month, one hundred and twenty dollars a year — ^her little labor of love for Larry's pleasure, no, not selfish pleasure, but for both of them a little joy in living that would lift them above the mere sordid effort to make both ends meet and to educate the children.", "\"Larry,\" she inquired, as he brushed his hair with the vigor of one who has enjoyed a well- deserved nap and is the better for it, \"why are you and Mr. Duggan expected to save all the money for the company?\"", "34 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "\"Because we have the two departments where it can be done. Duggan is superinten- dent of employees. He must reduce the force or the wages, or increase the output of his workers. This will lessen the cost of produc- tion, through better management — efficiency, we call it. I must buy to better advantage, for less money, and still give the firm the same quality of raw material to work with.^^", "\"But you can't do that, Larry. If you get cheaper material it's bound not to be so good.\"", "\"Not necessarily,\" said Larry, slipping on his coat. \"It's up to me to study the market more closely, to find new markets, if I can. That's why I'm going to South Bethlehem — if you'll let me.\"", "He smiled down on her, loosening the hands that clasped his arm so closely.", "\"Don't take it so seriously, little woman. I've been up against stiff er jobs than this, and always found a way out. Kiss the kiddies for me. If I don't get through to-morrow night, I'll wire.\"", "The door banged behind him and Mrs. Larry shook herself impatiently. What in the world", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 35", "had she started to call after him? That the wire would cost a quarter and he must not waste the money!", "The thought of it made her dizzy and faint. No matter where Larry went, how long he was gone, he had always kept in touch with her by night lettergrams, and she had come to be- grudge him this comfort ! Could it be that she had taken the lecturer at KimbelFs too serious- ly? Or was there something radically wrong with the plan of her budget, with her house- hold management; she had tried so hard to be thrifty.", "\"Thrift!''", "What did the word mean?", "She reached for her dictionary.", "Thrift — care and prudence in the manage- ment of one's resources.", "Well, Larry's salary was their one resource — and there was no increasing it. The seven little envelopes were as inevitable as the rising and the setting of the sun.", "What had Larry said? It was up to Dug- gan to reduce the force of workers or cut their wages. She had long since parted with a gen-", "S6 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "eral housekeeper who represented waste in the kitchen. Now she was doing her own cooking, with Lena, a young Swedish girl, at three dol- lars a week to help in the kitchen, wash dishes and take the children for their daily airing on Riverside Drive, and a laundress one day in the week. No, there was no reducing the force or wages.", "And what had Larry said about the purchas- ing department?", "\"Buy to better advantage. Find a new mar- ket.\"", "She shuddered at the thought. Had she not bought a lot of canned goods at a department store sale, only to find that they were **sec- onds\" and tasteless? Hadn't Aunt Myra in- duced her to buy poultry, eggs and cheese from the man who ran Uncle Jack's farm on shares, with the result that one-third of the eggs were broken through poor packing, and they had to live on poultry for days interminable — or have it spoil on their hands ?", "And Mr. Dorlon, the grocer, was so clean and convenient and obliging. She simply could not change, she told herself firmly. And yet,", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 37", "the lecturer insinuated that a housewife wasted money when she did not know food values. She had decided that the very foundations of her household management were shaking, when the telephone bell rang and she hurried down the hall to answer it.", "\"Can't you and Larry come over to dinner to-night?\" Teresa Moore inquired. \"The Greg- orys are stopping over on their way to Cali- fornia.\"", "\"Oh,\" sighed Mrs. Larry. \"Larry's just left for South Bethlehem. I'm so sorry.\"", "\"Well, you can come. I'll telephone Claire Pierce and Jimmy Graves. Jimmy met the Gregorys last summer.\"", "\"Claire might come, but Jimmy's gone back to Kansas City. Invite Claire and I'll drop out.\"", "\"Not for a minute,\" answered Mrs. Moore. I'll phone my brother to fill Larry's place. It's all very informal. We'll just make it seven in- stead of eight. We'll all take you home and stop somewhere to trot a bit. Do come. Larry would want you to.\"", "\"All right,\" said Mrs. Larry, almost blithely.", "38 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "She stopped at the secretary long enough to thrust the bothersome envelopes into a drawer. At Teresa Moore's there never seemed any question about giving a little dinner or going to the theater, and yet George Moore earned only fifty dollars more a month than Larry did. To be sure, the Moores had only one baby — and Teresa's mother gave her an occasional frock. Still, some day she would ask Teresa for a little inside information on budget-build- ing.", "It was Teresa's bachelor brother who made the opening for Mrs. Larry that very evening at dinner. He looked with undisguised admira- tion upon a baked potato which had just been served to him by the trim maid.", "\"Teresa, I take my hat off to your baked po- tatoes. There isn't a club chef in New York who can hold a candle to you when it comes to baking these.\"", "\"It isn't the baking, my dear boy, it's the buying of them. A watery potato won't bake well.\"", "\"Ah — and how, prajj do you know a watery", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 39", "potato from a dry one?\" inquired her brother with something akin to respect in his voice.", "\"By breaking them open, silly boy,\" she an- swered Vvith a gay little laugh, \"As runs one, so, generally speaking, runs the whole basket. I don't look at the size or smoothness of the skin, but at the grain of the broken potato.\"", "\"Are they Maine or Long Island potatoes?\" asked Mrs. Larry suddenly.", "\"Maine,\" answered Mrs. Moore. \"There isn't a Long Island potato on the market to- day.\"", "\"But, Mr, Dorlon— \"", "\"Told you so! Yes, and they always will, if you ask for Long Island potatoes. I don't take any one's word for food. The only safeguard is to know your market for yourself and ask no information of the dealer.\"", "\"Then you think there are no honest deal- ers?\" asked Mr. Gregory.", "\"Lots of them,\" replied his brisk hostess, \"but we women put a premium on misinfor- mation and trickery by demanding what the market does not offer. We demand fresh coun-", "40 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "try eggs when only the dealers in certified eggs can furnish them, and so we get cold storage eggs labeled ^country/ We demand Long Is- land potatoes when the market is sold out, and we get Maine potatoes at a slightly higher fig- ure than they should bring, because the dealer does not dare tell us the truth. If he does, we go to another dealer who knows us better.\"", "\"In Boston,\" remarked Mrs. Gregory, \"we have a little marketing club and study prices and market conditions. It takes time, but it saves us all quite a little.\"", "Mrs. Larry ate mechanically, hardly know- ing what was served. This was what the lec- turer had meant about studying food values — * what Larry had meant by finding a new mar- ket. But both of them had missed the mark. She would combine the two, study the old mar- kets and find new ones.", "Mrs. Moore was warming up to the topic and everybody was interested. \"New York is headquarters for the National Housewives^ League. We have district branches and lead- ers, and we are shaking up the dealers just beautifully. Last week our district leader an-", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 41", "nounced that there had been a drop in bacon and ham. One of the nationally advertised brands of bacon in jars was selling at several cents less a jar. I asked my grocer why he had not reduced the price. He said this was the first he'd heard of it. The next day he started a sale on this particular brand, and I bought a dozen jars. He knew all the time that the firm had cut the price, that ham and bacon were down, but he did not give his cus- tomers, who did not know the same thing, the advantage of the wholesale cut. Other grocers gave it and announced it as a special or leader.", "\"That's why I belong to the National House- wives' League. Grocers and butchers may argue with an individual woman who has read about food prices in the papers, but when a committee bears down upon them, they listen respectfully and admit the truth about prices.*'", "\"Then you believe that the old ogre H. C. of L., otherwise known as the High Cost of Liv- ing, can be reduced by an organization of housewives who agitate for lower prices?\" in- quired Mr. Gregory.", "\"I believe in education first, and organization", "42 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "afterward. An organization of women who do not know food values or market conditions will start a sensational campaign against cold stor- age eggs or poultry, and then subside. What we need under existing food conditions is wo- men educated as buyers, not as cooks. It's no use to economize in the kitchen and waste in the market.\"", "Mrs. Larry glanced round the table. Even the bachelor brother was listening intently. Of course — she had heard rumors of his atten- tions to that pretty Murray girl. As for Claire ■ Pierce, her face bore the expression of one who sat at the feet of wisdom and understood.", "\"What does it avail a woman to have thirty- five recipes for utilizing the remains of a roast, if she does not know how to buy a roast in the beginning? Our grandmothers, yes, and even our mothers, used to devise means of making what was grown on the farm go as far as pos- sible. To-day, our men folks grow nothing. We women in the cities and the towns and the vil- lages must go out and buy so wisely that we rival in this new housekeeping the frugality of our ancestors. It's all in the buying.\"", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 43", "Mrs. Larry, nibbling a salted almond, thought of her own burning zeal in using up left-overs, and almost sighed. No doubt Ter- esa Moore and the lecturer were both right. It was all in the buying. And her patient in- dustry in the kitchen had probably been un- done and set at naught by the trickery of grocer or butcher. She had been paying the old price for bacon and ham. She had been paying the price of Long Island potatoes for the Maine brand. She —", "Goodness gracious! Larry had gone to South Bethlehem to find a better market — and she had only to turn the corner.", "Again she glanced round the table, her eye resting now on Teresa Moore's new bonbon dish, which she had bought at a mid-summer sale, and at Mrs. Gregory's fresh, straight- from-the-shop black chiffon. Of course they could have new things. They had found the right market, through organization and educa- tion. She wanted to laugh aloud, did Mrs. Larry. She wanted to go right out and send a telegram about that new envelope marked —", "44 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "no, not \"Larry,\" but \"A little pleasure as we go along.\"", "However, as the conversation had drifted from food values to a new play, she pulled her- self together and chatted with the rest. But as she parted with her hostess a few hours later, she said:", "'^Teresa, give me the address of the House- wives' League.\"", "\"Going to join, honey?\" asked Mrs. Moore.", "\"Yes, — I'm starting on an adventure — in thrift.\"", "\"I'll go with you,\" laughed Teresa. \"Meet me at the headquarters of the Housewives' League, 25 West Forty-fifth Street, Monday morning. We're having a demonstration of meat cuts — by a butcher.\"", "\"I'll be there,\" replied Mrs. Larry promptly.", "She did not go alone. Claire had insisted on accompanying her.", "\"So long as Teresa doesn't know about — about — Jimmy's going away as he did, we won't have to tell her. And — and — even if I never did marry and, of course, I wouldn't marry any one but Jimmy — I might want to", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 45", "do work among the poor and this v/ould help me.\"", "Mrs. Larry nodded her head. She was wise enough not to insinuate that welfare work would never supplant love for Jimmy in Claire's heart. The all-important thing just now was to act as if nothing had happened be- tween the two young people.", "\"I love to have you with me, Claire. Per- haps Tm a little stale in the domestic light. Your fresh view-point will help me amazingly.''", "Stepping from the elevator they found them- selves in a huge undecorated auditorium cov- ering an entire floor of a great office building. Just ahead was a desk, where they registered in the National League, paying ten cents each and receiving in return a small button, with a navy blue rim and lettering on a white ground, \"Housewives' League.\"", "\"Wear this whenever you market,\" said the secretary. \"It commands respect.\"", "Beyond the desk was a space given over to desks, tables and bookcases filled with free bul- letins and literature on food values and food preparations, easy chairs and settees.", "46 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "Teresa Moore came bustling forward to greet them.", "\"This,\" she explained, *'is the first club-room ever opened exclusively for housekeepers. Here may come any housekeeper, member of the League or not, New Yorker or suburbanite, to read our bulletins and magazines, to rest, to write notes on League stationery, to meet friends. We want to educate home-makers to the club idea, to put housekeeping on a club basis.", "\"Way over there in the corner is the desk of our national president, Mrs. Julian Heath. Across the room is the gas demonstration, cooking, ironing, etc. And now we must hurry if we are to see the meat demonstration.\"", "One side of the great auditorium was filled with camp chairs and groups of interested eager women. On a platform, a force of butchers and helpers were hanging up a great side of fresh beef. Near the platform were two blocks on which the meat could be cut into pieces.", "\"Now, ladies, this is the fore-quarter — \"", "A great hustling for seats and advantageous", "'The price for this cut today is — \"", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 47", "positions, whipping out of note-books and pen- cils, then respectful silence.", "Deftly one helper cut and sawed while the butcher held up cut after cut and explained their food values and their prices* Invariably he said: \"The price for this cut to-day is — \" showing the variability of the market.", "Mrs. Larry listened almost breathlessly, glancing now and then at the oblong diagram of a side of beef furnished by Mr. Richard Webber, the dealer who had arranged the dem- onstration. The different sections of the beef were colored like states on a map.", "\"This, ladies, is the chuck steak at sixteen cents a pound.\"", "Mrs. Larry looked at it with disapproving eyes. That would not do for Larry. He must have the best and most nutritious beef.", "\"Just as tender if properly cooked and just as nourishing as sirloin,\" announced the butcher. \"But it lacks a certain flavor which both sirloin and porterhouse have.\"", "He was handling more familiar cuts now.", "\"First and second ribs, twenty-four cents a pound because they are most in demand. But", "48 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "I consider the second cut, third, fourth and fifth ribs just as good at twenty-two cents a pound. The seventh and eighth ribs, known as the blade, have a fine flavor and are more econom- ical at eighteen cents. Use the bones and blade for soup — and have the rest rolled and skewered.\"", "Mrs. Larry nibbled her pencil and frowned. A difference of six cents a pound between the first cut and the last — and she had never asked her butcher which rib it was. Last Sunday's roast had cost twenty-six cents a pound, and she had not known whether that was the right price on beef or not.", "\"Here is what I call one of the most economi- cal cuts — if you can get your butcher to make it for you. Some do not handle it. It's the ninth and tenth ribs, boned, known as the in- side and outside roll roast, tender as porter- house steak, solid meat, no waste, at twenty- five cents a pound. Five pounds of this are equal in nutritive and cash value to eight pounds of the usual rib roast.\"", "Mrs. Larry's pencil fairly flew.", "\"Here is the most economical cut for a large", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 49", "family. The cross rib at twenty-one cents a pound. Average weight fourteen pounds. But be sure you get the best grade of beef if you try this cut. If it weighs less than fourteen pounds, you are getting poor quality of beef. Note the fat, creamy yellow, not a bit of dead white.", "\"Now, have your butcher cut off two steaks first — Saturday night's dinner ! The next piece makes a fine pot roast for Sunday and Monday, and the balance a big pot of soup stock. From the pot roast you will have some cold meat for hash.\"", "^'Suppose you want just those two juicy steaks,\" suggested a well-dressed woman near the platform.", "*'Well, see that the butcher cuts them off the right end,\" readily replied the butcher.", "\"But,\" exclaimed Claire, as the result of watching her mother's household management, \"suppose you order by telephone — \"", "The butcher and his helper looked at each other and grinned. As one voice, the other wo- men cried, \"Oh, don't do it!\"", "\"Never buy meat by telephone,\" emphasized", "50 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "Mrs. Heath, the national president, \"go to mar- ket— it pays/'", "Claire was blushing furiously. Of course, everybody would guess that she was unmar- ried and inexperienced. In reality, her ques- tion was already forgotten. The audience was absorbed in watching the butcher carving the hind quarter of the beef.", "\"You ladies scorn the flank,\" he explained, as he held up a long thin cut of beef, \"but the inside cut, with a pocket to be filled with poul- try dressing, makes a fine pot roast. And now for the steaks, — \"", "Delmonico, porterhouse, sirloin and round — he explained their points clearly, and then a young bride brought up the question:", "\"What is minute steak?''", "\"You'll have to ask the chef,'' replied the butcher, nodding to a stout mustached man on the edge of the crowd. \"We thought you might ask questions like this, so we brought him along.''", "\"Minute steak,\" explained the chef, \"is any good cut, without bone, sliced very thin. It", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 51", "gets its name from the short time required to cook it/'", "Zip, the saw, knives and hatchet gleamed in and out of the red flesh, and the pages of Mrs. Larry's note-book bristled with facts and fig- ures. When the demonstration was over, she snapped a rubber band around the little book, thrust it into her bag and walked thoughtfully to the elevator.", "*'Did you enjoy it, honey?'' Teresa Moore linked arms with Mrs. Larry and rang for the elevator.", "\"Well, if there's any enjoyment in learning how little you know, I must have had a per- fectly splendid time!\" replied Mrs. Larry, not without slight sarcasm.", "\"Fine! I felt the same way — once. Now go a-marketing while it is all fresh in your mind. Put the fear of God in the heart of your butcher. You won't have to do it but once, I venture to assure you.\"", "\"I will,\" said Mrs. Larry firmly, as they part- ed at the corner. Then suddenly she stopped and stared in dismay at an unoffending,", "52 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "overtrimmed pincushion in a shop window. Memory turned a blur of red beef, white bone and creamy yellow fat.", "'1 don't believe I'll ever recognize those dif- ferent cuts when I see them.\"", "\"I will,\" said Claire Pierce firmly. \"I mean to have a talk with our butcher, too. No doubt father has paid him thousands of dollars, and now he can pay back some of the overcharge by teaching me how to buy meat properly. Let's go into that shop; I want to buy a note-book like yours.\"", "\"Well,\" said Mrs. Larry thoughtfully, as they waited for Claire's parcel and change, ''they do say that meat is cheaper in Kansas City than in New York.\"", "CHAPTER III", "^'There's always a reason for high prices, and ifs tvell tvorth finding outJ'", "■— H. C. OF L. PROVERB NO. 3.", "R. LARRY, settling his stalwart shoul- ders into his overcoat, stopped and looked down with a smile at the pink-tipped finger peeping through the buttonhole in his left-hand lapel. He had come to recognize cer- tain wifely signs. Mrs. Larry's finger attached to this particular buttonhole indicated that Mrs. Larry's gray matter was twisting itself into an interrogation point.", "''Well?\" he prompted.", "\"Um-m!\" she murmured; then, with sudden accession of courage : \"Larry, when you went to South Bethlehem looking for a new foundry to buy castings, what did the old man say?''", "'The old man?\" echoed Mr. Larry.", "\"Yes, the man where you had been buying 53", "54 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "them before. Didn't he want you to keep right on buying from him ? Didn't he say anything ?\"", "**Did he ? Why, as soon as he heard we were dickering with new people, he had half a dozen of his best men camping on our trail, cutting prices. That's the game — play one concern against the other.\"", "*'Thank you, dear,\" murmured Mrs. Larry, with a far-away look in her eye.", "Mr. Larry caught the pink-tipped finger as it slipped from the mooring in his buttonhole.", "\"What's up, sweetheart? Been hearing a lec- ture on 'Every Wife Her Husband's Partner'? Going into business?\"", "\"That's just it, Larry, 1 am your partner, and I ought to make a business of it.\"", "Mr. Larry drew her close, looking a trifle anxious.", "\"I don't want you any different. I love you just as you are.\"", "\"Yes, but you might love me better \"", "\"I couldn't.\"", "\"Yes, you could — if I were a better manager. Larry, we eat too much. I mean, I don't market efficiently.\"", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 55", "Her husband groaned.", "\"I don't want an efficient wife, the kind that counts her steps and moves, and has charts and signs hanging all over the house.\"", "\"Fm not going to do any of those things ; but I do want to buy for our home as closely as you buy for your firm. I'm afraid that Mr. Dahl- gren, my butcher, is overcharging me. I've bought meat there, and vegetables and fruit ever since we moved into this apartment ; we've paid him hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and — well, I think I ought to talk to him.\"", "Mr. Larry kissed the pink finger-tip, and sev- eral more, before he answered.", "\"Before you make any statements about his overcharging, you must know the prices else- where.\"", "\"Oh, I do,\" and she held up a sheet of paper covered with figures, some newspaper clippings and a Housewives' Marketing Guide of the current week. \"I got these at the Housewives' League meeting.\"", "The clock in the living-ro.om struck the half hour and Mr. Larry reached for his hat.", "56 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "\"That's right — you hand it to the old boy, straight — and tell me about it to-night.\"", "When the door had closed on Mr. Larry, his wife tripped to the telephone and called up Claire.", "*'I'm going to have it out with my butcher,\" she announced very firmly. \"If youVe remem- bered anything that IVe forgotten, now's your chance to help me.\"", "\"I'll be over in half an hour,\" answered Claire briskly. \"Mother wants me to answer some invitations for her, and then I'll be free for the morning. It's dear of you to take me on your adventures. By-by.\"", "Mrs. Larry stood looking at the now silent telephone. Certainly Claire was taking the thing splendidly. If only Jimmy knew what was going on ! Yes, decidedly, Jimmy ought to know. Having settled this matter to her satis- faction, Mrs. Larry proceeded to act with char- acteristic promptness. She took her pen in hand —", "\"Dear Jimmy:", "\"Clearing out a drawer this morning, I came", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 57", "upon the program of the Monday Night Dance. Didn't we have a wonderful time? If you are as good a lawyer as you are a dancer, you'll be famous before long.", "\"So sorry you did not have dinner with us before you left. You must never treat us that way again.", "\"Can't write any more, because I am going over to my butcher's to take my second lesson in reducing the high cost of living. Claire is going with me. Of course, she'll write and tell you all about our adventures in thrift. I sup- pose we'll have some wild experiences. But when you really, truly love a man, you don't mind what you go through for him. Not even if this means stalking that ogre, 'High Prices,' to its darkest lair.\"", "She sealed and stamped the envelope with an affectionate little pat.", "\"It's just as well not to take any chances on some catty Kansas City girl discovering that Jimmy's heart has had a wound that she might heal. I've heard a lot of strange things about the way a man's heart acts on the rebound.\"", "58 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "Nevertheless, she was very careful not to al- low Claire to see the address on the letter, which she mailed in the first box they passed.", "When Mrs. Larry, armed with market quota- tions, entered the Dahlgren market, with its glittering marble slabs, its white-coated cutters, and its generally up-to-the-minute air, she felt a sudden sinking in the region of her heart. ''Jud,\" the rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed cutter, who always took her order, came forward, book in hand.", "*'What is it this morning?''", "\"A roast of beef \"", "\"Two ribs or three?'' he suggested, already writing the order.", "\"I think rd like to see it.\"", "\"Certainly. Bill, let me have that prime rib, rolled. No, the other cut.\"", "A helper produced a roast, beautifully rolled, all crimson flesh, flecked with rich, creamy- white fat. Jud tossed it on the scales, and in a flash had it off again.", "\"Not quite eight pounds — ^two dollars and thirty-two cents. Can't be beat for slicing down", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 59", "cold. Anything else?\" he added. \"We have an unusually fine pair of sweetbreads to-day. Some chops for lunch?\"", "Mrs. Larry was doing mental arithmetic. Claire had been using her pencil. \"Two-thirty- two — That's thirty cents a pound.\"", "\"What cut is that?\" Mrs. Larry asked, with a fine assumption of firmness and indicating the rolled roast, which Jud had tossed into the bas- ket, as if the sale were made.", "\"That?\" echoed the wondering cutter. \"That's a Delmonico roast — fancy.\"", "\"Haven't you — ^haven't you a third or fourth rib roast, something cheaper than this?\"", "\"Well, of course, I can give you any cut you want,\" said the amazed attendant, accustomed to filling unqualified telephone orders. \"But I'd advise you to take this — no waste.\"", "Mrs. Larry looked up from her quotations.", "\"The second cut is only twenty-one cents a pound, to-day. I'll take that.\"", "\"Certainly,\" acquiesced Jud ; \"but you won't find much saving in that piece, what with bones and tailings.\" He had flung another roast, un-", "60 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "rolled, on the scales, \"Seven pounds — one dol- lar and sixty cents. Mebbe you'd rather have three ribs than two?\"", "Again Claire's pencil moved to the rhythm of figures.", "\"If it's twenty-one cents a pound, it ought to be only one dollar and forty-seven cents.\"", "\"This cut is twenty-three cents a pound.\"", "\"But the market quotations say twenty-one cents,\" murmured Mrs. Larry.", "Jud's good-humored face clouded. Here was an experience practically unheard of in the Dahlgren market, and plainly beyond his juris- diction.", "\"I guess you'd better talk to the boss.\"", "Mr. Dahlgren stepped forward solicitously.", "\"Nothing wrong, I hope?\"", "Mrs. Larry felt her color rising. The few women in the market, like herself, were well- groomed, well-tailored. They turned and stared at her and Claire. Price-haggling in a shop of this class suddenly seemed cheap and common. And yet she was determined to put into prac- tise the lessons in meat buying she had learned", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 61", "at the Monday morning meeting of the House- wives' League.", "*'I don't quite understand why this cut, the third and fourth ribs, is twenty-three cents a pound when the Housewives' League price says twenty-one cents,\" she explained, proffering Mr. Dahlgren the printed sheet.", "The butcher's shrewd experienced glance swept the line of quotations.", "\"Ah — ^hem — yes, I see. U'm — Quite so. Twenty-one cents to twenty-three. That's right. Twenty-three cents — and that's what we're charging you.\"", "\"But,\" murmured Mrs. Larry, trying to look severe, \"why do you charge me the top price instead of the bottom one? I am a regular cus- tomer. I pay my bill weekly, which is as good as cash, my husband says.\" Being launched, she felt quite courageous. Surely this was the way Larry would talk to competing firms !", "\"I have been marketing here for three years and have paid you hundreds of dollars.\"", "\"I appreciate all that,\" said Mr. Dahlgren good-naturedly, \"and I want to hold your trade;", "62 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "but we do not carry the twenty-one-cent grade. See?\"", "Decidedly Mrs. Larry did not \"see,\" and her puzzled face betrayed the fact.", "'The difference between twenty-three cents and twenty-one cents does not represent the whim of the butcher, Mrs. Hall, but the grade of the beef sold, and I might say, also the ex- penses of store management — what your hus- band would call overhead expenses. This par- ticular roast, cut from the Argentine beef mentioned in your Marketing Guide, could be sold by some butchers at twenty-one cents a pound, because the Argentine beef wholesales at ten to ten and a half a pound. But I handle only fancy, native, stall-fed beef, which whole- sales from fourteen and a half to fifteen and a half cents per pound. Our prices here arc reg- ulated by what I pay, which is always top notch for selected meats, and by the expense of run- ning the shop. Cleanliness, modern equipment, highly paid clerks, good telephone and delivery service all come high. Then, of course, in a shop like this heavy accounts are carried \"", "\"Oh — ^then I pay not only for the njigat I buy,", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 63", "but must make up your losses from charge cus- tomers who do not pay. I really gain nothing by paying my bill weekly.\"", "A great light illuminated Mrs. Larry's mar- keting vision. Mr. Dahlgren looked uncomfort- able.", "\"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Mrs. Hall ; but the sort of custom I have, what we call A-1 charge trade, demands the best \"", "\"It can,\" asserted Mrs. Larry significantly, \"if it does not pay.\"", "\"I can't offer you seconds in meat, poultry or vegetables. Now, take this lettuce \"", "He picked out a head of choice lettuce and pulled the leaves apart.", "\"See? Not a withered leaf, not a single leaf you could not serve on your table. Fifteen cents. Well, you can go to the dago stand round the corner and buy lettuce for eight or ten cents. My lettuce you have charged and deliv- ered in clean baskets, by clean, respectful de- livery boys, and you'll have enough for two sal- ads. The Italian sells you lettuce that is with- ered on the outside from long standing in his bot cellar, or small heads from which all the", "64 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "outside leaves are stripped. You pay cash, the lettuce is dusty, it is delivered by a dirty little ragamuffin who ought to be in school, and you get one salad as against two from the head bought here.", "\"Same way with those meat quotations. I went down to hear that lecture. I sort of felt some of my customers would be there. The man who gave what you called your meat demonstra- tion is one of the biggest dealers in this city. He wholesales as well as retails. He does not carry a single retail charge account. He would not give credit to a woman who had traded with him ten years. Every sale is a cash transaction — no waiting, no chance of loss. Of course, he can undersell a man like me. I don't pretend to compete with him. You can go to his mar- ket— across towTi — or you can order by tele- phone or postal card, and he will give you good meat, not fancy grades like I carry for my ex- clusive trade, but good meat, and you will save money. His rent is less than mine and he pays smaller wages. I am not knocking his meat; but I will say that if you take his roast at twen- ty-one cents a pound and mine at twenty-three", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 65", "cents a pound, and treat them exactly the same way, you'll be able to tell the difference. It's in the flavor and the tenderness and the juici- ness, and of the twenty-one-cent roast Mr. Hall will probably say: *Roast a little dry and flat to-night, isn't it r^'", "\"Then this Marketing Guide is really no gutde at all?'' sighed Mrs. Larry, suddenly recalling that she had meant to clean the baby's white coat this morning, and here she was spending precious minutes unlearning what she thought she had learned so well.", "\"Oh, yes, it is — if you know how to use it. Take this one item alone. The market is flood- ed with Florida oranges and grapefruit.' Thaf s your chance to lay in a supply of both fruits while the wholesale prices are down. 'Cran- berry shipments are heavy and market glutted.' That's true, too. Cranberries have sold a few weeks back for twelve cents a quart. I am selling now for nine. It would pay you to make up some jelly and set it aside, or, if you have a cool place, you can keep the raw berries just as well as we can. Just now the manufactur- ers of — —. — : bacon are cutting prices — they", "66 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "are overloaded. I can save you three cents a jar if you want to buy a quantity and stock up. Next week it may be back to the old price.\"", "\"And these prices change all the time, like this? Why haven't you told me such things before?\"", "\"Well,\" said the butcher, trying hard not to smile, \"you never asked me. You usually order by phone, and — \"", "\"You can send me the roast — ^the second cut at twenty-three cents — five quarts of cran- berries and a dozen jars of bacon,\" said Mrs. Larry out loud. Inwardly she calculated: \"Fifteen cents saved on cranberries, thirty-six on bacon. Every penny cut off what it might have been, saves just a little bit more.\"", "Safely back on the sunlit street, Mrs. Larry and Claire glanced at each other. The faces of both were a trifle flushed.", "\"I've had more agreeable experiences,\" com- mented Mrs. Larry, with a wry smile.", "\"I don't care what happens,\" said Claire, looking straight ahead, \"I'm going to wim out in this game. It means everything to me.\"", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 67", "Whereat Mrs. Larry felt an inward glow. She hadn't made any mistake in writing to Jimmy Graves.", "*'If you feel that way about it, I'll telephone you my plans every day.\"", "\"Do,\" said Claire, as she hurried away.", "Frequently, when Mrs. Larry discoursed on the happenings of the day to her husband, she felt that Mr. Larry was not so deeply inter- ested in domestic problems as a carefully chosen father might be. But on the memor- able evening after her discovery that the same cut of beef might sell for twenty-one or twenty- three cents a pound, and for a very sufficient and convincing reason Mr. Larry gave her remarks flattering attention.", "After he had studied the Marketing Guide and gone over Mrs. Larry's figures, he drew her down into the great chair that had been built for two and which faced the sputtery gas log.", "\"Tell you, little woman, you are all right! I supposed it cost just so much to keep up our table, and there was no use fighting the high", "68 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "cost of living, but I believe you are on the right track. Finding the cause of high prices is the way to begin/'", "\"And, Larry, one cause of our high prices is the neighborhood in which we live.\"", "**Well, we're not going to move out of it. I won't raise my children in an undesirable neighborhood just to save two cents a pound on meat.\"", "*'I have an idea!\" remarked Mrs. Larry, snuggling closer in the arm that seemed always waiting for her. \"If the cheap markets can't come to our neighborhood because of the high rents, I'm going to them. All of them deliver. The man who talked to the League said so; I don't suppose the East Side butchers would come over here more than once a day.\"", "\"And his system of delivery at all hours is one of Mr. Dahlgren's heavy overhead ex- penses, remember.\"", "\"And you're not to complain, understand, if sometimes there is a shortage in tenderness or juiciness of roasts.\"", "\"I'll be the best little victim of your experi-", "ADVENTURES IX THRIFT 69", "ments in thrift that ever was,\" said Mr. Larrj' assuringlv.", "*'0h, Larr\\', that's the very idea ! Everj^ day will brings its adventure in thrift. I'll have my next trip in the morning.''", "''WTiy don't you start with the open mar- ket?\" suggested Mr. Larry.", "'T thought they were just for the poor.\"", "''They are run by the city for the people — and we are the people, aren't we?''", "''Well, not just people — when you have the darlingest and most underst-andingest of hus- bands—\"", "*'And the most calculating and parsimonious of wives.\"", "''Now you're making fun of me. But I'll tn.' the city market to-morrow. There's one at the end of the Broadway car line.\"", "\"Yes ; at the old Fon Lee Ferry. You ought to catch some New Jersey farmers there, with fresh butter and eggs.\"", "At ten the next morning !Mrs. Larry and Claire started for the people's market. This was Mrs. Larry's usual time for marketin^e.", "70 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "At ten-thirty they sprang from the car, near the dull, redding-brown ferry house, and looked around for the market with the true country atmosphere. Near the recreation pier were scattered a few wagons that suggested the hucksters who sometimes dared to invade the sacred precincts of her exclusive neighborhood, with heaps of over-ripe pineapples and under- ripe apples. Here and there were push carts, such as Mrs. Larry had seen that day when she had \"slummed'' through the great East Side in search of a wedding gift in old Russian brass. A few rickety stands completed the background, and these were heaped with sad- looking poultry, tubs of butter, and crates of eggs, bearing striking black and white signs that announced big cuts in prices.", "Hucksters, pedlers and sharp-featured tradesmen greeted them vdth strident price quotations. But Mrs. Larry's glance sought in vain for the kindly farmer and his wife, the sort she could suddenly recall as handing her bits of home-made cake, pot cheese or a tiny nosegay of garden flowers in the days when", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 71", "she had gone to early market with her grand- mother in a quiet Pennsylvania city,", "A neatly dressed man, with a semi-official air, who had evidently noticed their bewilder- ment, raised his hat and spoke courteously:", "**Is there anything special you want?\"", "*'No; nothing special — we thought we'd like to see one of the city markets/'", "\"Well, you're a little late to see the market at its best. TU explain, if you don't mind. Tm on Borough President Marks' committee and we are very anxious to interest New York housekeepers in these markets.\"", "\"But it's not clean,\" protested Mrs. Larry, driven to frankness by her disappointment.", "\"It's as clean as any open market can be kept. Everything is cleaned up and flushed every night, but you see people have been trad- ing here since six-thirty this morning.\"", "\"As early as that?\" exclaimed the astonished Claire.", "\"Yes, the farmers are early birds. They are the first to arrive and the first to leave. They sell out in no time. One man brought in", "72 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "two loads weighing about five tons each, solid produce, and his wagons were empty in two hours. Among other things he sold six hun- dred bunches of celery at ten per cent, less than you can buy it at your fancy grocery store. He sold small heads of cabbage for four cents, large for eight, solid as rock and fine for cold slaw. You may pay the same in your store, but the heads are soft and wasteful. His cooking apples brought ten cents for a two- quart basket that grocers sell at fifteen or twenty, according to the customer. We've got rid of eight hundred pounds of fresh fish, brought direct from Monmouth, New Jersey, by a real fisherman. On Friday we'll sell one thousand eight hundred pounds caught by the same man and his neighbors/'", "''Then these,\" murmured Mrs. Larry, indi- cating the straggling wagons and push carts, *'are not farmers?\"", "\"No; these are hucksters, mostly, or small dealers. You could buy for the same prices at your door or at their stands down-town. We group the farmers under signs: 'FARM- ERS' WAGONS,' and discourage hucksters", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 73", "who fix wagons to look like the real farm article.", "'*We have a representative of the Depart- ment of Weights and Measures to receive complaints, and to test weights and measures. This morning we ordered off a push cart man because his fruit and vegetables were not fresh. We are doing everything in our power to pro- tect housewives and encourage them to patron- ize the open market, because that means more farmers will come here. And we are aiming to bring about direct connection between pro- ducer and consumer — farmer and housewife.\"", "\"But what of that wagon/' inquired Claire, indicated a huge delivery wagon bearing the name of a prominent down-town department store, *'does that firm sell fresh food?\"", "\"No ; staple groceries which they can buy in huge quantities, like five pounds of granulated sugar at twenty-three cents, when your grocer and mine are charging us at the rate of three and one-half pounds for eighteen cents. This firm delivers orders. The farmers, the huck- sters and stand men can not. But we arrange for that by having a man who will deliver the", "74 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "ordinary market basket from any of our open markets at ten cents/'", "''Then the delivery is extra and cuts into the saving on prices?''", "\"Not enough to notice if you buy in good quantities. Now figure this up for yourself. What are you paying for potatoes?\"", "\"Twenty-five cents a basket.\"", "\"How big a basket ; how many pounds ?\"", "Mrs. Larry stared.", "\"Pounds ? — I never weighed them.\"", "\"But that's the only honest way to sell po- tatoes. Big potatoes leave huge air holes in the basket that weigh nothing. Well, here are seven pounds for ten cents. The same quantity bj'' measure would cost you at least fifteen cents. This head of cabbage at six cents would cost ten in your store; six bunches of beets here for ten cents, two bunches in your store. Two quarts of onions five cents, ten in your store. Three fine rutabagas for eight cents; I paid eight cents for one like these down-town. You can afford ten cents for delivery on a list like that.\"", "\"I would save about thirty cents. Ten cents", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 75", "would go for delivery, ten for car fare — and my time — \"", "\"Well, of course, you have not bought much, considering that you must have them delivered and you must pay car fare. Women like you from the distance must either buy in larger quantities or carry things home on the car.\"", "\"Carry them!\" exclaimed Mrs. Larry.", "\"Yes; women come here with old suit-cases and bags. Women with babies bring the babies in the carriages and fill the front with vege- tables, etc. Mothers of older children use the little express wagons. They don't spend ten cents for deliveries.\"", "\"Do — do many ladies come here?\"", "\"Say, if you want to see ladies marketing, you go over to the market under Queensboro Bridge to-morrow morning — early.''", "Mrs. Larry laughed joyously over her re- cital that night.", "\"Evidently the early bird has come back into style,\" was her husband's comment. \"Are you game for the early market?\"", "\"Indeed I am,\" declared Mrs. Larry. \"Just think ! I didn't save a penny to-day — lost time", "76 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "and money — ^because I didn't know enough to dig out your old suit-case. Anyhow, I think it is cowardly to market with a bag or suit- case. My grandmother and aunts carried a market basket, and so shall I.\"", "\"Hurrah!'' shouted Mr. Larry. \"A fig for convention-bound neighbors. But do you own", "\"I just do,\" responded Mrs. Larry proudly. \"Aunt Myra sent it to me last fall, packed with pickles and jelly.\"", "And the next morning, after wafting a kiss to the sleeping Mr. Larry and stealing a glimpse at the rosy-cheeked small Larrys, she drank a cup of hot coffee, munched a roll, and by eight o'clock was at the Queensboro Bridge market.", "But she was not accompanied by Claire on this trip. The girl's enthusiasm was beautiful to see, but Mrs. Larry was a cautious person. She did not want to kill it by drawing on it at seven A. M. The family of Pierce were not early risers.", "\"Ah, this is something like,\" she sighed as she saw the groups of farm wagons from Long", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 77", "Island, with tanned lean men handling poultry, eggs and vegetables. She bought with enthu- siasm fowl that she knew were fresh killed and picked, at the price often charged for cold stor- age poultry; vegetables that were firm and fresh; fruits at close to wholesale prices. The farmers and dealers helped her pack her bas- ket compactly. All around her were comfort- able-looking, well-dressed women. Beyond the line of wagons, push carts and stands was a second line of automobiles, many of whose own- ers were marketing at her elbow.", "\"It's the automobile folks that are saving money,\" said a farmer's helper, as he packed a crisp head of lettuce into the last corner of her basket. \"You'd die to see how it riles their chauffeurs to have to come for the baskets.\"", "The baskets, of course — and Mrs. Larry sud- denly realized that her arm throbbed like the proverbial toothache. She had a full block to walk to the car, a transfer to make, and two blocks to walk at the other end of the line. The prospect was not cheering. She sought out the man who had contracted to deliver baskets at ten cents each.", "78 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "\"What time shall I get these goods?'* she asked.", "\"Before nightfall,\" answered the man.", "\"But this chicken is for dinner,\" she said. \"I must have it by two o'clock.\"", "\"Then you had better take it with you,\" said a by-stander, a competent-looking woman.", "Mrs. Larry unpacked the basket, had the fowl, some sweet potatoes and celery done up in a big paper sack which she could carry, and turned the balance of her marketing over to the delivery men.", "Why in the world hadn't she thought of this and let Claire bring them both over in the Pierce limousine? Well, she'd know better the next time. And she turned over the silver lining of this particular domestic cloud so quickly that the young bride, sitting opposite her on the cross-town car simply had to smile back. After which they fell into conversation.", "\"I've just about decided,\" the younger wo- man remarked, as she looked at Mrs. Larry's great bag of provisions, \"that you've got to pay the high cost of living either in money or time or strength. I bought four dollars' worth", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 79", "of produce this morning for about two dollars and seventy-five cents. That is, I save about one dollar and twenty-five cents on what you'd pay to the grocer on your block, or your regular butcher. But it takes two hours of my time, and then we can't tell how long these city mar- kets will last. If they are to be open in winter, the city will have to lay floors of concrete, my husband says, and provide better protection all round. That means the city will have to charge the dealers for rent, and then — up will go the prices. Seems like you have to pay somebody his price or give a lot of yourself in saving.\"", "\"It is discouraging,\" said Mrs. Larry. \"The chief trouble I have is in taking care of goods in quantity after I buy them. You have no cellar or pantry in an apartment-house. There are closets and bins enough in my kitchen, but winter and summer it's too hot, vegetables and fruit spoil.\"", "\"And that eats up what you save going to market. Buying in small quantities comes high. Now if a lot of women could go together and buy and then divide up, they could save money.\"", "80 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT", "\"Oh, I've heard of that system. They're called 'Marketing Clubs/ I believe there's one in Brooklyn. Suppose we look into it,\" she added.", "''I'll have my husband get the president's address. He knows some newspaper men and the club has been written up lots of times. Oh, yes, I remember the president's name is Mrs. Bangs.\"", "So they exchanged cards, and, much to their amusement, discovered that they lived on the same block. The little bride's name was Mrs. Norton, and, as they parted at her door, she bound herself to join Mrs. Larry, Teresa Moore and Claire Pierce on their adventures in thrift.", "'It's so much nicer to travel in pairs than in odd numbers,\" said Mrs. Larry.", "\"It's awfully good of you to let me come,\" answered Mrs. Norton. \"None of my intimate friends are particularly interested in this sort of thing, but I've just got to be.\"", "Mrs. Larry shifted the heavy parcel to the other arm.", "\"Every wife would be happier if she was", "ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 81", "interested. I'm beginning to think that she really can't be happy if she isn't — efficient, though